How evil is racing a 10k eight days before a marathon? (Read 708 times)

I notice that my favorite 10k of the year is only eight days before the Shamrock Marathon. (It is a point to point and mostly slightly downhill.) Other than risk of injury, is there a big downside to running the 10k so close to the marathon?

Oh, it's evil alright. I'm sure Satan will meet you at the finish line & take you straight to hell.

Our town hosts a 5k the day before the local marathon, and about 1,000 marathon/half marathon racers participate, but they are all very wicked. Just don't go for a PR at the 10k would be my advice, Evil One.

I notice that my favorite 10k of the year is only eight days before the Shamrock Marathon. (It is a point to point and mostly slightly downhill.) Other than risk of injury, is there a big downside to running the 10k so close to the marathon?

I know there are lots of people that will have better answers than me. I think that several things must be taken into account:

1- are you racing the 10K

2- are you racing or finishing the marathon

3- how has training gone

4- are you on a low mileage beginner marathon plan

5- how is your base mileage

For me, my base is weak, my plan is low mileage, training has gone well, I plan on finishing a marathon- not race it. My Higdon plan has me doing 8 miles the week before a marathon, but I wont be racing those 8.

Why do you run? Unless you're someone who gets paid to run and win and wear logos -- probably because it's fun and at some level, you enjoy it. Right? You like the 10K, run the 10K. If the marathon's a bigger goal, then dial in the 10K effort to the level that reflects your focus on the marathon the next week.

Of course, you could twist an ankle, fall, or whatever -- but that's the same risk you take just out jogging on your own.

I've done my best to live the right way. I get up every morning and go to work each day. (for now)

People always mention the risk of injury but really that doesn't even enter my mind when deciding whether to run a race. To me the risk is not being fully recovered for your marathon and hurting your performance.

If it were me, I'd probably do it but I know when I'm in marathon shape, I recover from a 10k race in less than 8 days.

Well, considering that my training schedule has the Thursday before the marathon workout as 2wu+8(400@5kw400r)+2cd, I wonder how much harm I would do by racing a10k five days before that. I guess as long as I can still hit my paces I'll be OK. I've never done speed work that close to a marathon before anyway.

8 days out would probably not be enough time for me to fully recover. I'd probably still do it and race both of them hard but I have a long history of running and racing. A 10K raced 10 or 11 days out is the PERFECT marathon tune-up for me. I've done the Cal Int Marathon the first weekend in December and a T'giving day Turkey Trot 10K for the past 3 years and PR'd at the marathon twice, though I haven't PR'd the 10K I've come really close.

Well, considering that my training schedule has the Thursday before the marathon workout as 2wu+8(400@5kw400r)+2cd, I wonder how much harm I would do by racing a10k five days before that. I guess as long as I can still hit my paces I'll be OK. I've never done speed work that close to a marathon before anyway.

3 days before, 8 miles with 8 x 400 at 5k pace? OK... curious... who put that program together?

I would love to hear how you make out after. I run about 15 races a year and sometimes my schedule gets jammed a little bit too. For me, one, maybe both, of those races would suffer a little bit. But it wouldn't be more than a few minutes.

I ran a 10k like a race this aft. Two minutes better than my 10k PR. It's 2 1/2 weeks before my goal 10k. I ran it now because it gives me enough time, to not only recover, but to recover and hone my training. But running it like that even next week, might influence my training.

Good Luck! Hey Longboat!

vegefrog

posted: 12/18/2012 at 8:11 PM

Well...if it makes you feel any better...against all good advice and common sense...

I ran a 5K the week before my marathon (I know, only half the distance so it's not quite the same) and raced it...got a PR by a minute. Then I ran a fantastic marathon and had no negative effects at all from the 5K.

I'd say go ahead and run the 10k, but only race it if you don't really care about the marathon time. No-brainer for me (and maybe only for me).

If you're like me, and unable to 'just' run a race without competing, I'd sell my starting number.

Maybe it's just me. But an all out 10k for me automatically means I need a few days to recover. Whereas for a goal marathon, I wouldn't care run faster than MP during the entire taper, unless it were just some strides or very short intervals.